Combination ASP and own system arrives from Made2Manage

Enterprise software developer Made2Manage, represented in the UK by 4Front, is releasing a new version of its M2MVIP Internet applications – launched in September last year as a hosted, subscription-based offering for small to mix size manufacturers – all now on the Microsoft .Net Platform as a ‘best of both worlds ASP (application service provider) offering. “Through discussions with many customers, we determined that a major barrier to acceptance and use of Internet applications was the installation, setup and management requirements,” says Gary Rush, chief technology officer for Made2Manage Systems. “Traditional hosting could help solve the problem, but manufacturers didn’t want to house their key enterprise business system data outside of their own facilities.” With the new system, says Rush, “The business system and its data continue to reside in the manufacturing facility – and this is very different from traditional hosted applications which require the customers business systems and data to reside outside their facility. “The Microsoft .Net platform and XML web services let us adopt this approach. ASP .NET lets us scale the application to large numbers of manufacturers and customers while providing a rich customer experience. “M2MVIP allows manufacturers to get up and running very quickly with a complete suite of eCommerce applications. They are able to do this without expensive bandwidth, infrastructure, scarce web expertise, or up-front capital expenditures.” Applications in the suite so far include Order Status, Order Entry, Invoice Status, Product Catalogue, Inventory Availability, Request for Quote, Quote Status, and the basics for sales staff and distributors.